I made this dress for Boston Pride two weekends ago, and in honor of the historic ruling today, here is the tutorial for how I made it:
Materials:
- 6 tshirts, one of each color of the basic rainbow, at least as big around as your hip measurement. Make sure the red shirt( if you want red to be the top) fits well across the chest.
- thread of a color you don't mind seeing on each (I used black)
- sewing equipment(machine, pins, measuring tape, etc.)

Step 1: Measure how long you want your dress to be from the top of your shoulder. Subtract one inch(because we'll use the existing hem on the top and the bottom pieces), divide this number by 6, and add one inch for seam allowance. The resulting number is how wide you should cut each strip.
Let's say I wanted my dress to be 37" long from shoulder to hem.
37" - 1" = 36"
36"/6=6"
6"+1"=7" So I need to cut a 7" strip from each shirt.
Step 2:
Take the red shirt(if you want red to be the top of your rainbow), measure 7" down from the side of the collar, and cut a straight line across at that point. Take the purple shirt(if you want purple to be the bottom)measure 7" up from the bottom hem, and cut a straight line across at that point. Take the rest of the shirts and cut a 7" wide strip from the middle, so that it does not include any hems.

Step 3:
Measure the width of your top piece(which you should have fitted ahead of time). Make sure this width will fit over your hips and sew a seam down the side of each other strip so that they all measure the same width.
Step 4:
Sew the strips to each other using a zig-zag stitch, so that the seams have some give to them.
Step 5:
Try on your dress and pin down the sides to fit your torso more flatteringly. Remove and sew a straight stitch up the sides to these new measurements.
Step 6: Wear and be fabulous! Preferably with excessive amounts of glitter...

Notes:
I decided last-minute that I didn't want sleeves, so I cut the top to match my favorite tank top and zig-zag stitched around the edges.
To make the heart cut-out: Make/print a heart shape on a piece of paper, exactly the size you wish to cut out from the back of your dress. Take spare scrap of jersey fabric from one of the shirts that's at least as big as your heart pattern and pin it flat to the inside of the back of the dress. Pin the heart pattern in the center of the back, where you'd like it to sit, and sew a straight stitch all the way around the shape, using the edge as your guide. Using sharp(and preferably small) scissors, trim out both layers of fabric about 1/8" away from the inside of the heart shape you just sewed. On the inside, trip the spare fabric to about 1/8" around the outside of the heart shape you just sewed. This will help it lay flat, especially at the point.

Materials: cardboard, scissors, school glue, super glue
Step 1: Cut the cardboard into a bunch of strips, 1.5-2" wide, cutting it so that the long edge shows the wavy inside layer like this   ------------------------------------------------------------>
You can see in the pictures that I didn't catch on to this until I had already rolled a few strips.

Step 2: Take the first strip and start rolling it up tightly. After you've rolled it a few times, start putting a long strip of glue in the middle of the inside of the strip, doing sections as you roll it up. When you reach the end, put a tiny bit of superglue on the end and hold it down for a few seconds until it bonds. I did this just so that the superglue would hold each strip in place securely while the regular glue dried.

Step 3: Put a little bit of super glue next to the end of the last cardboard strip, take a new strip, and press the end firmly into the glue until it bonds. Then continue with the rolling and the regular glue. Keeping rolling and gluing until the circle reaches about a foot in diameter, or until it seems big enough for your cat to lounge on.

Refashion time! While trolling through my favorite crafting pinboards, I saw quite a few tutorials for making skirts from men's button-downs. All cute, but most kept the curved hem at the bottom of the shirt, and I was thinking more along the lines of this: ------------------------------------------------>



So, I went to Goodwill for a shirt and just did my own thing.
Here's the tutorial!

Materials: men's XL flannel shirt, matching thread, big button for the waist closure, iron

Step 1: With a seam ripper, remove the pocket/s. Save these to reattach later, or don't. Lay out the shirt as flat as you can and cut straight across the bottom, so that all of the curved hem is removed, and straight across the middle under the sleeves. You'll see in my photos that I cut a little higher on the top, cutting in around the arm holes. This is because I am a tall girl and I wanted this skirt to pass the fingertip rule(hem is below my fingertips while standing straight with my arms extended down, for those of you who didn't attend public high school in the early 2000s. :)) so I could wear it to work. Unfortunately, this took away some of the width of the skirt, so it wasn't as full and gathered at the top as I would have liked, but c'est la vie. If you don't mind a shorter skirt, cut straight across under the arms.

Step 2: Measure the circumference of your waist and cut strips of flannel from the upper back or sleeves that are 3.5 inches wide and your-circumference-plus-the-width-of-your-button-placket-plus-1/2inch long. (Example: my waist circumference = 30inches, my button placket = 1.5 inches, so my waistband piece should be 30+1.5+0.5=32 inches long) You may have to cut two strips and sew them together in the middle to make one long enough. This will make your waistband.

Step 3: If you cut high around the sleeves, turn the tube of the skirt inside out and pin two lines down each side from the top corners to the bottom corners of the same side. If you just cut straight across under the arms, you don't need to do this step.

Step 4: If you had to cut two pieces to make your waistband long enough, sew them together in the center. Lay the waist band out flat on an ironing board and press that middle seam open. Then fold the waistband over itself along the long edge, wrong sides together, and press. Open the waistband again and fold one long edge and both short edges in 1/2 inch and press. Fold the waist band back on the original middle fold and press everything well. The waistband piece should look like the bottom left image when opened and the bottom right image when pressed closed.

*Those of you who are expert seamstresses/ers might take issue with the fact that I didn't press in the other long edge of the waistband. I did this because A) I'm lazy and B) this way guarantees that, when I sew the waistband to the skirt, one seam will definitely catch both the back and front side of the waistband. It does make the inside of the seam look raw and unfinished, but I didn't feel the need for professional-grade detail on an easy refashion project.

** From here I'm going to deviate from what I actually did and tell you how I should have done it. Hindsight, as they say, is 20/20 and as I was writing this I saw a much simpler way of finishing this skirt.

Step 5: To create the bottom hem of the skirt, unbutton the tube of the skirt and lay out right-side down. Fold up and press 1/4 inch of the bottom edge, pin, and sew with a straight seam. To save length, I did not fold it twice.

Step 6: Lay out the skirt piece again, right side up. Open the waist band and place the top edge of the skirt inside so that the unpressed edge of the waistband is under the skirt, the top edge of the skirt is against the center crease of the waistband and the sides match the ends of the waistband. Pin the two sides of the skirt to the ends of the open waistband. Pin the center of the skirt piece to the center of the waistband. The skirt piece is obviously much longer than the waistband and we'll gather up the excess in the next step.

Step 6: Make 4 box pleats, evenly spaced, to gather up the excess skirt material so that it lies flat against the length of the waistband. This can be done simply by making the pleats with your fingers and pinning them down. Fold the waistband closed over the top edge of the now pleated skirt and pin closed along it's length.

              After pinning, the ends should look like this:

Step 7: Sew a straight seam 1/8-1/4 inch from the bottom of the waistband.

Step 8: Button up the skirt again, right-side out, and sew one seam up the left side of the button placket until about 4 inches from the top. The last four inches will allow the skirt to go over you hips when you put it on.

Step 9: Now that the structure of the skirt is done, the last step is to put in the button closure in the waistband. Lay your skirt out flat and mark where the button and button hole will go. Using your machine, stitch a button hole in the outside button placket and and cut it open. Attach your big button to the inside button placket.

Step 10: For a touch of whimsy, or just a place to put your keys, reattach one or both of the pockets you removed earlier. Wear and enjoy!

I distinctly remember when I was a kid just going into middle school, one of the most important "now you are becoming an adult" talks was about skin care. My mother has the most beautiful complexion, which is its own testament to her advice. Until recently, also on her advice, I used Clinique, which has the feeling of luxury skincare products with a (little) less devastating pricetag, and they have a bunch of options for sensitive skin types(such as my Arg!-Sun!-Freak-out-time!-prone epidermis).

Then, for who knows what reason, my skin decided to hate water. Fortunately, it was only one specific kind of water: Maine water, but after weeks of breaking out in hives every time I washed my face, I fell back on my travel/camping soap: Dr Bronner's 'Magic' Lavender Pure Castile liquid soap, just to try switching things up. A combination of using that soap and only cold, filtered water to wash my face turned out to be the solution to my strange problem, but since then I've continued to use my Dr Bronners and abandoned my fancy Clinique.

Fast forward three years and I'm back from Africa and trying to figure out my beauty care routine again now that I have access to things like running water and weather that doesn't make me sweaty constantly. Browsing crafting blogs and DIY forums introduced me to the world of DIY cosmetics and I decided to try making my own products with the vague goals of: 1) trying to wean myself off of mass-produced products (ain't no CVS after the apocalypse!); 2) learning WHAT I put on my face and WHY; and 3) entertaining myself with cute little jars and bottles of stuff I brewed up personally.

So, here is my current skin-care regime as I've figured it:
Step 1: Wash face and neck with tepid(cold shrinks pores, which you don't want until after they're all nice and clean, heat can aggravate my stupid @$%&*@ skin) water, handmade cotton washcloth, and Dr Bronner's Lavendar Castile liquid soap. The washcloth I crocheted following this tutorial here. I made two: one for washing(and exfoliating just a bit) and one for drying. A ton of acne-causing bacteria can live on your body and hand towels, even when you wash them weekly, so this step eliminates some of that.
Step 2: Swab face and neck using a cotton ball soaked in witch hazel. The witch hazel acts as an astringent: tightening pores, removing excess oils, and reducing inflammation. I use the cheapo CVS brand, which also contains a little alcohol. This can be drying to some skin types, but I feel like it gives my skin the good "astringenting" it needs. I realize that this part isn't exactly DIY, but next time I find myself in possession of some witch hazel bark I know just how to make some, thanks to this tutorial here.
Step 3: Moisturize thoroughly using my homemade facial moisturizer. I originally used this recipe here , but found it to be too oily for summer use. I stuck the batch in the back of the freezer to keep for the harsher, drying winter weather and went back to my drawing board(a.k.a. a stickynote pad). The result ended up being roughly like this:
DIY Moisturizer for Summer
Ingredients:
- 1c aloe vera gel
- 4 Tbs of sweet almond oil
- 1/2 Tbs melted beeswax
- 15 drops of Lavender EO (essential oil) - Lavender is antibacterial and anti-inflammatory
- 5 drops Carrot Seed EO - Carrot seed acts as an antioxidant and can have an SPF of 40+
- 3 drops Tea Tree EO - Tea tree is one of those über oils used in cosmetics and herbal medicine because of it's antibacterial and healing properties
Steps:
1. Melt the beeswax in the microwave(maybe 30 seconds) and whisk in the almond oil. Alow to cool to room temperature and 'mush' up again with a fork. This mushing helps prevent lumps in your final product and softens up the oil mixture so that it's easier to blend.
2. In a blender, whip the oil/wax mixture and the aloe vera gel together. it should produce a lovely pale lotion with a creamy texture.
3. Add the EOs. Mix well. Store in small, airtight container.
Step 4: Exfoliate once a week using about 1tsp of baking soda. Do this step between washing your face and moisturizing it. In your hand, mix the baking soda with enough water to make a thin paste. Massage into skin for a little while, leave on for about a minute, then rinse thoroughly. The baking soda crystals are fine enough that it exfoliates away the top layer of dead skin without irritating the living layer beneath it, leaving your skin(even mine!) fresh and glowing afterwards.

Next project: homemade deodorant!

Step 1: Sketch your shape(I just Googled 'monstera leaf' for reference) on the rough side of the leather and cut using sharp scissors or an Xacto knife(a crafter's BFF!). When you're sketching, make sure to be thinking about covering up the head of the earring post. Get too excited about the funky gaps in the leaf and you might end up with too little of a solid area at the top to cover it and it will show. NBD, just something to consider.
Step 2: Using a strong craft glue, such as E-6000, attach blank earring posts to the back. Make sure to let the glue dry completely!
Step 3: Wear with pride! The leaves are a bit big, so I usually wear them in my second piercing so that the edges don't push up against my face. I really like how they sort of take over my whole earlobe. Definitely a statement.

Another funky nail art tutorial-ish. Did this one for the goth club. Oh how I love to goth-out once a month! If you like The Crow, if you enjoy Poe, if you have an inner crush on dressing dramatically, or like industrial music, if you ever thought about how you wished you could find a club scene like The Bronze from Buffy and hang out with people like Abby Sciuto from NCIS; find one and go:  http://www.xmortis.com/
Step 1: Paint nails with a black base coat.
Step 2: Paint on the skull shape in white. I painted on a wide stripe, the width of the upper jaw part, first, then went back and added two angled stripes to make the cheekbones and add a little roundness to the the top.
Step 3. Allow to dry completely, then draw on eyes, nose, and teeth with regular Sharpie.
Step 4: Finish with a clear topcoat to protect the sharpie, otherwise it can rub off of the dry polish.

Step 5: Enjoy a little spookiness at your fingertips!